Late-Day Trading

Late-Day Trading

A practice in which a hedge fund buys or sells shares in a mutual fund after the end of a trading day, but asks the fund to record the transactions at the end of the trading day. Because the net asset value (NAV) of a mutual fund is determined at the end of each trading day, transactions that occur after the end of the trading day may distort the fund's true NAV. This allows a hedge fund to close their positions the next trading day at a profit. Late-day trading is considered unethical, but it is not illegal.